By Carole Stout, Student Intern, Archives and Special Collections

To celebrate local community-building and entertainment, Ball State’s Archives and Special Collections has newly processed the Muncie Dragway and Speedway memorabilia collection. This collection consists of photographs, auto-racing newspapers, and a 1949 booklet detailing the rules and regulations of the Mutual Racing Association.

Racing in Muncie began as early as 1938, when Tom Cherry and others formed the Mutual Racing Association, Inc (Anderson and Argabright). The group began racing in 1939 at the Muncie Steeplechase. After serving in World War II, Cherry returned to racing in the late 1940’s, setting track records and racing at speedways across the Midwest United States. Cherry also opened an automotive shop called Tom Cherry Automotive Engineering, where notable drivers throughout the Midwest could be found working on their cars before race day (Anderson and Argabright).

The Muncie Mid-American Dragway opened in 1960 and is still active to this day, featuring many different events during the summer season (“Indiana Dragstrip List”). The Muncie Dragway has even hosted National Hot Rod Association events since 1967 and has long since been a center for community and entertainment in Muncie, Indiana. The Muncie Motor Speedway followed shortly after, opening in 1964 with a figure-eight track that would eventually become paved (Ealy and Ackerman) . However, The Motor Speedway was shut down in 1990 due to authorities finding a toxic waste dump near the site of the speedway. This area was cleaned up and is closely monitored to this day. Even though the Speedway has been shut down, the figure-eight track can still be seen from an aerial view on Google Earth. Both locations are located off of highway 67 a few miles north of Muncie.